LET'S ALL EMOTE

I tend to serialize albums.

Back in the day, I spent months listening to the first side of Murmur, then eventually, more months listening to the second side.

When I fell for Hissing Fauna, it was initially enough to listen up to or through The Past is a Grotesque Animal, and then stop. After about six months of that, I would either start with that song or right after it, and then on through to the end, my obsession unabated.

I've now made it through the first five songs of David Comes to Life by Fucked Up. Which, frankly, is further than I might have expected to get with an album that is so centered on retro hardcore hoarse-whispering vocals. I mean, Christ, I had no use for Henry Rollins in 1984, let alone now...

But I am finding something charming about the whole affair, right down to its four-act rock-opera lightbulb-factory soul.

In my dream world, where EPs are king, this thing would have come out as four individual one-act discs, with a new disc released every other month or so. Which would have saved me the trouble of trying to self-serialize the damn thing.

But since the responsibility is on my shoulders now, I don't know if I'll ever get past Act 1...

YOU AND ME

We got our iPhones this past weekend.

I downloaded a ringtones app, and it's like deep-fried crack to me.

I've made about a dozen or so. Right now my all-purpose tone is the first 5 seconds of We're Not Adult Orientated.



My dedicated tone for when Taeko calls is the opening of Du Og Meg:

She fell in love with a boy
Who spoke her second language
And who lived across the ocean
In the Evil Empire

Which is pretty perfect...

PLEASE RELEASE ME

Lots of comfort food on the way this year...

LCD Soundsystem, This is Happening
Happened already. I bought it, but I haven't listened yet. I'm sure it's yummy.

M.I.A., Maya
Watch yourself, gingers.

Panda Bear, Tomboy
Yes!

Arcade Fire, The Suburbs
This comes out in August, but if the shitilicious first single is any indication, I suspect they really did shoot their wad with Funeral.

Belle and Sebastian, TBD
DAR Constitution Hall in October? OK, I'll be there.

of Montreal, False Priest
Pretty sure this is still on tap for the fall. So... yay.

Stereolab, Not Music
This is the second half of the Chemical Chords sessions. I'm sure the Lab in their grave will continue to drop music Tupac style...

MERSH

It should not go unremarked that the current McDonald's filet-o-fish commercials, um, borrow from of Montreal.

I see three potential scenarios here:

(1) With the evidence of the Outback commercial in hand, McDonald's assumes that of Montreal are whores to be had for some filet-o-cash. Kevin Barnes rebuffs them, and they stick out their tongues and write a nonactionable pastiche.

(2) Someone in the McMarketing department is a fan, and decides to do a bizarre, sideways homage.

(3) The same theory that postulates that, given enough time, 100 monkeys with 100 typewriters would eventually produce Hamlet.

I'm not going to sweat the whys and wherefores, I'm just going to enjoy...

WE PLAYED A SHOW AND NO ONE CAME

A couple of weeks ago, I got an e-mail from brain coral. I won't say it was frantic, because he doesn't do “frantic”-- let's say it was heightened.

And with good cause-- word had come through the wire that of Montreal was going to be playing a late-January show at the 9:30 Club.

I answered excitedly (because I do do “excitedly”), and within 5 minutes, we had our tickets.

As the days passed, I continued to check the status of the show, and tickets continued to be available. I was beginning to think that I was seriously overvaluing of Montreal's currency. Maybe 3 years on from Hissing Fauna, and a bit bewildered by Georgie Fruit, the indie kids had all moved on.

I checked again today, and it looks like it's finally sold out.

Not that it has much bearing on brain coral and me. You'd find us stage right in the rafters whether it was sold out or we were the only ones there...